Written Answers

Tuesday 22 February 2000

Scottish Executive

Education

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide an estimate of the total cost of teachers’ salaries on a local authority by local authority basis.

Mr Sam Galbraith: Teachers’ pay and conditions are a matter for local authorities and we do not hold this information centrally. The latest available information on gross expenditure on employee costs for teachers is for 1997-98 and is set out in the table below.

  1997-98 Gross Revenue Expenditure on Employee Costs: Teachers (£000)

  


 


Salary

  

Superannuation

  

National 

  Insurance

  

Allowances 

  & other costs1


Total 

  All

  



Scotland

  

1,223,212

  

86,434

  

93,308

  

23,305

  

1,426,259

  



Aberdeen 

  City

  

45,281

  

3,031

  

3,424

  

763

  

52,499

  



Aberdeenshire

  

58,654

  

3,944

  

4,461

  

509

  

67,568

  



Angus

  

26,637

  

1,895

  

2,037

  

589

  

31,158

  



Argyll & 

  Bute

  

23,450

  

1,626

  

1,828

  

220

  

27,124

  



Clackmannanshire

  

11,376

  

1,037

  

867

  

139

  

13,419

  



Dumfries 

  & Galloway

  

36,987

  

2,695

  

2,827

  

570

  

43,079

  



Dundee City

  

37,082

  

3,075

  

2,876

  

404

  

43,437

  



East Ayrshire

  

30,689

  

2,061

  

2,360

  

129

  

35,239

  



East Dunbartonshire

  

27,981

  

1,888

  

2,121

  

123

  

32,113

  



East Lothian

  

18,921

  

1,329

  

1,445

  

454

  

22,149

  



East Renfrewshire

  

22,231

  

1,904

  

1,719

  

6

  

25,860

  



Edinburgh, 

  City of

  

79,529

  

5,592

  

5,974

  

1,719

  

92,814

  



Eilean Siar

  

10,928

  

737

  

790

  

490

  

12,945

  



Falkirk

  

32,217

  

2,156

  

2,265

  

1,082

  

37,720

  



Fife

  

87,082

  

5,940

  

6,673

  

2,034

  

101,729

  



Glasgow 

  City

  

132,180

  

8,978

  

10,162

  

4,056

  

155,376

  



Highland

  

59,484

  

4,218

  

4,726

  

545

  

68,973

  



Inverclyde

  

21,588

  

1,491

  

1,645

  

255

  

24,979

  



Midlothian

  

20,860

  

1,461

  

1,579

  

294

  

24,194

  



Moray

  

22,445

  

1,534

  

1,726

  

418

  

26,123

  



North Ayrshire

  

33,893

  

2,292

  

2,624

  

330

  

39,139

  



North Lanarkshire

  

85,853

  

6,597

  

6,640

  

181

  

99,271

  



Orkney Islands

  

7,001

  

492

  

529

  

247

  

8,269

  



Perth & 

  Kinross

  

30,385

  

2,126

  

2,314

  

542

  

35,367

  



Renfrewshire

  

42,736

  

2,776

  

2,924

  

901

  

49,337

  



Scottish 

  Borders

  

25,540

  

1,777

  

1,969

  

706

  

29,992

  



Shetland 

  Islands

  

9,657

  

899

  

779

  

754

  

12,089

  



South Ayrshire

  

27,163

  

1,843

  

2,072

  

34

  

31,112

  



South Lanarkshire

  

72,804

  

5,306

  

5,634

  

3,555

  

87,299

  



Stirling

  

20,083

  

1,394

  

1,541

  

526

  

23,544

  



West Dunbartonshire

  

24,692

  

1,687

  

1,899

  

188

  

28,466

  



West Lothian

  

37,803

  

2,653

  

2,878

  

542

  

43,876

  



  Source: As reported by councils on Local Finance Returns (LFR1 Education).

  Notes:

  1. Includes relocation, interview and training expenses, advertising, severance payments, Pensions Increase Act, transfer values for unfunded schemes and employee related insurances.

Education

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to increase the amount payable to Scottish teachers towards the purchase of a personal computer from £200 to the maximum of £500 available to teachers in England.

Peter Peacock: Nearly 5,000 Scottish teachers have already taken up the offer of a tax-paid £200 refund on the purchase of any computer which meets or exceeds a published minimum specification. Continuing the scheme on the present pattern will benefit many more Scottish teachers than increasing the amount of the subsidy.

Elderly People

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-975 by Iain Gray on 17 January 2000, to specify the amount allocated to each local authority for (a) services for home-based elderly people; (b) residential accommodation for elderly people and (c) casework and related administration in respect of elderly people, expressed on a per capita basis for each person receiving each of these services.

Iain Gray: Grant-Aided Expenditure (GAE) allowances are not intended to be spending targets or limits for individual services, but contribute towards the assessment of councils’ relative total expenditure needs within the distribution system.

  The information requested is not available centrally. The allocations to each authority are contained in Grant-Aided Expenditure 2000-01. It is available in SPICe.

Employment

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it first knew about the redundancies at Dalzell Plate Mill; whether it has had any discussions with British Steel (CORUS) regarding these job losses and, if not, why not, and what its understanding is of Dalzell Plate Mill’s future.

Henry McLeish: The Executive first learned of these redundancies on 8 February. My officials have discussed the circumstances with local management. The Scottish Executive does not speculate on the future commercial decisions of companies.

Enterprise

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will give concrete examples and specific instances of its implementing policies to (a) encourage the transformation of ideas from their science base into successful businesses; (b) promote an entrepreneurial culture through school activities; (c) develop Scotland’s knowledge economy; (d) promote the use of technology throughout all types of business, and (e) seek to minimise the regulatory burden on business to ensure that small businesses do not face inappropriate regulations, and in each case to estimate in respect of each of the next ten years how many extra businesses will be created.

Henry McLeish: As the answer to this question is lengthy I will write to Mr Ewing, and will ensure that a copy of my response is placed in SPICe.

Enterprise

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any application for grant assistance made by the National Trust for Scotland to a local enterprise company will be considered in accordance with the same criteria as those governing applications by private businesses and, in particular, whether the rules regarding displacement of existing jobs and businesses will be applied in the same way to any application by the National Trust as they would be to an application by a private business.

Henry McLeish: Any application for financial assistance made by the National Trust for Scotland to a local enterprise company would be appraised according to the same criteria as applies to other financial assistance cases or development projects promoted by private companies. One of the main elements of any project appraisal will be the test of cost-effectiveness which will assess value for money in securing benefits such as employment creation taking into account the effect of displacement elsewhere in the economy.

Enterprise

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the Highlands and Islands Enterprise budget is spent on consultancy contracts and whether it will provide details of the value and the nature of these contracts.

Henry McLeish: This is an operational matter for Highlands and Islands Enterprise and I have asked the Chairman to write to the member. A copy of the reply will be placed in SPICe.

Enterprise

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the Scottish Enterprise budget is spent on consultancy contracts and whether it will provide details of the value and nature of these contracts.

Henry McLeish: This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise and I have asked the Chairman to write to the member. A copy of the reply will be placed in SPICe.

Finance

Mr Duncan Hamilton (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representations have been made to the Chancellor of the Exchequer or Her Majesty's Treasury to access additional money for the NHS in Scotland and when those representations were made.

Mr Jack McConnell: The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the United Kingdom Government on a wide range of issues, including spending on health.

Health

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will investigate the circumstances whereby operations were carried out at Falkirk and District Royal Infirmary to amputate healthy limbs.

Susan Deacon: Forth Valley Acute Hospitals NHS Trust has fully appraised us of the circumstances surrounding the two operations undertaken at Falkirk and District Royal Infirmary. While recognising the sensitive and controversial nature of these operations we are, nevertheless, satisfied that in each case they were deemed clinically appropriate and that the correct procedures were followed.

  The Trust’s Ethical Issues Sub-Committee has considered the circumstances of these operations, and the Medical Director has set out clear guidelines for future action. The Chief Medical Officer has written to all Trusts asking what their procedures are in such circumstances, to ensure that there are robust mechanisms in place.

Health

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-2173 by Susan Deacon on 10 November 1999, whether it has considered any recommendations received from the Scottish Breast Screening National Advisory Group yet and whether there are now any plans to extend breast screening to include women over the age of 64.

Susan Deacon: I understand that the results of the Scottish study aimed at assessing the implications of extending the upper age limit of routine invitation for breast screening were considered by the Scottish Breast Screening National Advisory Group at their meeting on 16 February.

  I expect to receive the Group's recommendations after they have had the opportunity to fully consider the findings of the study.

Health

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive to specify the capital spend of each health board on new hospital buildings or significant extensions over each of the last 20 years.

Susan Deacon: This information is not held centrally.

  However, one of the current Scottish Executive commitments is that by 2003, the biggest ever hospital building programme in Scotland will be delivered, with the provision of eight major new modern hospital developments with a capital value of over £480 million.

Health

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what are the guidelines currently in use concerning emergency call-outs of GPs.

Susan Deacon: In an emergency a GP is required to render whatever services are in the best interest of any patient on the GP's list. The GP is required to provide treatment other than at the practice premises if the patient's condition is such that in the GP's reasonable opinion it would not be appropriate for the patient to attend there.

  For a person not on his or her list, in an emergency a GP is required - on request and if available - to provide treatment immediately required.

  These requirements are part of the Terms of Service for General Practitioners as set out in Schedule 1 to the National Health Service (General Medical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 1995, as amended.

  In addition, the General Medical Council has issued guidance to doctors which indicates that, in an emergency, a doctor must offer anyone at risk the treatment which the doctor could reasonably be expected to provide.

Health

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans there are to introduce car parking charges within hospital grounds in the Glasgow area.

Susan Deacon: Arrangements for charging for car parking are currently in place at Yorkhill NHS Trust, the Victoria Infirmary, which is part of South Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust, and Glasgow Royal Infirmary which is part of the North Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust. GGPCT has advised that there are no plans to extend these current arrangements nor to introduce charges at hospitals forming the Greater Glasgow Primary Care NHS Trust.

Health

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to reduce the £25 million spent on temporary agency nurses in the NHS in Scotland and whether these plans include permanent employment of nurses.

Susan Deacon: I am determined that there be a further reduction in the use of bank and agency nurses. Those Trusts responsible for the heaviest use of bank and agency nurses are already in the process of introducing new practices to rectify the situation. In the months ahead, Health Department officials will be working with the Scottish Partnership Forum and with NHS Trusts to ensure that further improvements are made in this area.

Health

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether positive proof of qualifications in intensive care nursing are always provided by agency nurses assigned to intensive care units and, if not, what steps it proposes to take to ensure that agency nurses working in intensive care units are qualified in that speciality.

Susan Deacon: Nursing Agencies are licensed by health boards who should ensure that agencies provide appropriately qualified nurses but it is also for NHS Trusts to satisfy themselves that all their staff, including those provided by a nursing agency, are appropriately qualified to undertake the duties assigned to them.

Health

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what its target is for increasing the number of registered nurses in Scotland in 2000-01.

Susan Deacon: We are committed to recruiting more nurses to the NHS in Scotland by building incrementally on the numbers entering training, and by encouraging nurses back to work through more family-friendly policies. Nursing and midwifery student intakes will increase by 3% in 2000-01.

Health

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many registered nurses left the profession in (a) 1996; (b) 1997; (c) 1998 and (d) 1999.

Susan Deacon: The information requested is not available centrally.

  However, for directly and permanently employed nurses leaving the NHS in Scotland in the last three years, please refer to question S1W-4053.

Health

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to address the rate of staff turnover in relation to nurses in specialist high dependency and intensive care units in Scotland.

Susan Deacon: Local staffing arrangements are principally a matter for NHS Trusts. However, the Chief Medical Officer will shortly be leading a study of the capacity and flexibility of high dependency and intensive care provision in Scotland, which will focus on nursing staffing among other issues.

Health

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average cost, in terms of advertising, recruiting and training a new member of staff, is of filling a vacant nursing post.

Susan Deacon: The information requested is not available centrally. Health boards and NHS Trusts in Scotland are directly responsible for the recruitment of new staff.

Health

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide funding for the extension of the competency-based preceptorship programme at Glasgow Royal Infirmary in order to improve patient care and nurse development and decrease nursing turnover rates and what plans it has to recognise the efforts of the nursing staff at Glasgow Royal Infirmary in relation to this programme.

Susan Deacon: I expect all NHS Trusts in Scotland to provide a period of preceptorship for newly qualified nurses and I am delighted that Glasgow Royal Infirmary has taken a structured approach to this.

  The National Board for Nursing Midwifery and Health Visiting for Scotland, which my Department sponsors, has provided funding to evaluate this initiative.

  Learning Together, launched in December, announced that we will be establishing a group to consider, among other things, how best to provide structured support for newly qualified nurses. To prepare for this, the Chief Nursing Officer has commissioned a mapping exercise of the many models for preceptorship which have been developed by Trusts throughout Scotland.

Justice

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to produce a consultation paper on the possibility of establishing a Scottish Human Rights Commission.

Mr Jim Wallace: I have not yet decided whether to establish a Scottish Human Rights Commission, or whether to publish a consultation paper on this issue.

  I will consider this issue in the light of a submission which The Scottish Human Rights Forum has undertaken to make to me.

Justice

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is considering developing a new definition of consent in the crime of rape; if so, whether it will take into consideration the views of victims of rape when developing any new definition, and what the timescale is for the introduction of any such new definition.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Executive has no plans to change the definition of consent in the common law crime of rape. If in future the Executive does consider such changes, we would of course consult all appropriate interests, including victims groups.

Local Government Finance

Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been top-sliced from local authority budgets this year; whether the sums top-sliced are to be distributed to local authorities in line with the advice of the comprehensive spending review and when such distribution will take place, and whether it considers these instances of top-slicing to be consistent with the recommendations of the Macintosh Commission Report which stressed local authority competency.

Mr Jack McConnell: The Local Government Finance Settlement for 2000-01 allows for total local authority current spending to rise by 3.7% in line with the plans contained in the Comprehensive Spending Review. The distribution is discussed with CoSLA. Within the settlement for 2000-01, £784 million has been included for local authorities’ loan charges support, £24.9 million to recognise the specific needs of island communities, £530 million for specific grants, of which £365 million is for the police specific grant and £20.6 million has been distributed to support those authorities with the highest level of deprivation and poverty.

Public Appointments

George Lyon (Argyll and Bute) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive to provide a list of all the independent members or assessors who have sat on interview panels for appointments to public bodies in Scotland over the last five years, with an indication of how often each individual sat.

Mr Jack McConnell: The names of all the independent advisers who have been appointed to the central panel of independent advisers, (established in July 1996), and the names of all appointees to the NHS Health Appointments Advisory Committee (established in 1994) are shown in the lists below. All the appointments were made by Scottish Office Ministers before 1 July 1999. Scottish Executive Ministers have not appointed any independent assessors. Information about how many times individual assessors have sat on interview panels for appointments to public bodies in Scotland is not held centrally.

  The Executive has embarked upon a wide-ranging consultation exercise, which invites views on the current public appointments system and possible options for change. Independent scrutiny is a key element of the appointments process and the consultation paper seeks views on the role and appointment of independent assessors, including consideration of whether the composition of appointments panels should vary according to the nature/type of appointments.

  


CENTRAL 

  PANEL OF INDEPENDENT ADVISERS:

  



Professor 

  Kathleen J Anderson

  

Professor 

  Tom Anderson

  



Dr Tom Begg

  

Professor 

  Ewan Brown

  



Mr Ian Collie

  

Mr Andrew 

  Cubie

  



*Mrs Christine 

  Davis

  

*Mr Alastair 

  Dempster

  



Mr George 

  Esson

  

Sir Charles 

  Fraser

  



*Lady Marion 

  Fraser

  

Mr Ian Grant

  



Councillor 

  Charles Gray

  

*Miss Mary 

  Hartnoll

  



*Mrs Deirdre 

  Hutton

  

Mr Roger 

  Kent

  



Mr Neil 

  McIntosh

  

*Ms Jane 

  McKay

  



Mr Hugh 

  MacLean

  

Dr Calum 

  MacLeod

  



Councillor 

  Duncan McPherson

  

*Professor 

  Kathleen Marshall

  



Ms Anne 

  Mearns

  

*Lord Provost 

  Eric Milligan

  



Mr Garth 

  Morrison

  

*Mr Frank 

  Pignatelli

  



Mrs Winifred 

  Sherry

  

Professor 

  Sir William Stewart

  



Mr Ernie 

  Walker

  




  * Period of appointment September 1998 - 30 June 2002. All other appointments made in July 1996 for a four year term.

  


HEALTH 

  APPOINTMENTS ADVISORY COMMITTEE

  



Mr Norman 

  Irons (Chair)

  

Dr Anthony 

  Toft

  



Councillor 

  Jean McFadden

  

Rt. Reverend 

  Mario Conti

  



Mr Hugh 

  Morison

Scientists

Shona Robison (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many scientists it estimates have left Scotland to work elsewhere in each year since 1990.

Henry McLeish: This information is not held centrally.

  However, I can provide, in the hope that this might be helpful, estimates of the number of new science graduates from Scottish universities and colleges who obtained permanent employment overseas. The estimates set out in the table below has emerged from a survey of graduates.

  Table: Total science graduates from Scottish universities and colleges, and the estimated number and percentage who obtained permanent employment overseas.

  

 

Total number of 

  graduates in survey cohort

  

Estimated number 

  obtaining employment overseas

  

% obtaining employment 

  overseas

  



1994-95

  

8,396

  

413

  

5%

  



1995-96

  

9,707

  

566

  

6%

  



1996-97

  

9,716

  

580

  

6%

  



1997-98

  

9,711

  

526

  

5%

  



  Notes:

  1. In this context "science" is defined as those subjects included in physical sciences, biological sciences, and engineering and technology.

  2. The location of graduates who do not obtain permanent employment is not captured by this survey.

  3. The survey assumes that the employment and destination profile of graduates who responded to the survey questionnaire is representative of the survey cohort as a whole in order to produce the estimated number and percentage who obtained permanent employment overseas.

Special Advisers

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-222 by Donald Dewar on 9 August, whether it will define, describe and elucidate the nature of the specialism of each of its Special Advisers and whether such specialisms exist within the civil service.

Donald Dewar: Special Advisers are not appointed as subject specialists but to give broad advice, including political advice, to Ministers on the development of Government policy and its effective implementation. The specialist nature of their role is that it encompasses the giving of political advice which is not a function of the impartial civil service.

Transport

Mr Murray Tosh (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in pursuing the award of a grant from the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority to assist in upgrading the Kilmarnock-Glasgow railway and whether it will allow the A77/M77 upgrade to proceed on schedule, even in the event of any slippage in the upgrading of the railway line.

Sarah Boyack: The upgrading of the Kilmarnock-Glasgow railway line is not the subject of an application for an award of grant from the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority. However, I understand that Railtrack have concluded a feasibility study on behalf of Strathclyde Passenger Transport Authority (SPTA) to identify the infrastructure work required to upgrade the line. The study is currently being considered by the SPTA.

  This possible project will not affect the timetable for proceeding with the upgrade of the A77/M77.

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Voting Information

David McLetchie (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Presiding Officer whether the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body will arrange for the Scottish Parliament Information Centre to compile a regular monthly update of the number of votes in the Parliament, which also gives a breakdown of the number of times members of a party have voted in the same way as members of other parties and whether this information will be made available on the Parliament website.

Sir David Steel: The Scottish Parliament Information Centre is currently compiling a report from the electronic voting data which are recorded in its Scottish Parliament Profiles (SPP) database. It will include details of MSPs’ participation in electronically recorded votes since 1 July 1999, and will be updated monthly. The first report will be completed shortly, and will be made available on the parliamentary Intranet (SPEIR) and on the website. Information about cross-party voting cannot be compiled comprehensively without disproportionate cost, but when the browser interface for SPP is available on SPEIR, Intranet users will be able to construct such searches for themselves. The browser interface should be available within the next few months.